MOLODIST'52 FULL-LENGTH INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AND THE NEW DESIGN
Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival will be held from October 21 to 29. This is the oldest of all Ukrainian film festivals taking place now. This year, we mark the 52nd edition of the festival. The central location of Molodist will be the Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostyantynivska St.). The opening and awards ceremonies will take place in the Krakow Cinema.
The festival’s main event is always the International competition, which includes the first full-length feature films, debut shorts, and student films. This year, 12 films from around the world were selected for the full-length international competition. Among the films that will compete for the main prize of the 52nd Molodost KIFF are participants and winners of the most famous and prestigious film festivals, such as Cannes, Berlinale, Locarno, San Sebastian, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sarajevo Film Festival, etc.
Films:
The Lost Boys, Zeno Graton / Belgium, France / 2023, 83’
20,000 Species of Bees, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren / Spain / 2023, 128’
Dalva, Emmanuelle Nicot / Belgium, France / 2022, 83’
I Have Electric Dreams, Valentina Maurel / Costa Rica, Belgium, France / 2022, 102’
Disco Boy, Giacomo Abbruzzese / France, Italy, Belgium, Poland / 2023, 92’
Stepne, Maryna Vroda / Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Slovakia / 2023, 117’
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, Joanna Arnow / USA / 2023, 87’
Hoard, Luna Carmoon / UK / 2023, 126’
Stay online, Eva Strelnikova / Ukraine / 2023, 110’
City of Wind, Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir / France, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Qatar / 2023, 104’
The eleventh and twelfth feature films and the international competition's Student and Short Film programs will be announced later.
This year, after the shortened 51st edition of the festival, Molodist returns to the whole format of the program with other competitive and non-competitive programs.
As part of the festival, the Teen Screen competition for children's and teenage films, the competition for debut full-length documentaries, and the national competition for Ukrainian short films will be held.
One of the oldest programs of the festival, Scandinavian Panorama, will be devoted to films from Northern European countries. FORMA consists of experimental films. Midnight Special and Emerging Artists sections will also be present this year. The traditional Festival of Festivals programme will unite films officially selected for the world’s most famous festivals. Modern Ukrainian cinema will be presented in international and national (short-length) competitions and the out-of-competition program Ukrainian premieres.
In total, more than 150 full-length and short films will be shown.
The winner of the Grand Prix for the best film of the International competition program will receive a cash prize of 5,000 US dollars and the traditional award of Molodist – Scythian deer. The prize for the best film in each category of the International Competition Programme will be 2,000 USD, and the winners will also be awarded the Scythian Deer statuette.
The creative partner of the festival is Hexagon Agency. As noted in the agency, last year's visual style, created by Hexagon with designer Masha Dmitrova, manifested the power of creativity that does not depend on circumstances and overcomes them. This rhymed with the desire for the festival to occur even after full-scale Russian aggression started.
“The second year of the full-scale invasion brought us to a new stage. At the stage when shades are mixed, fatigue and Ukrainian skepticism, fueled by technology, are growing. Everyone who advocates for justice and support for Ukraine has an important role to play: we must carry the light of truth. This struggle for light against the technology of creating falsehood is reflected in the visual style of the Molodist ‘52. We see the fabric of the chromakey (an instrument of reality manipulation) tearing before our eyes and our space being filled with light. So, our collective power is still at work. The visual solution also rhymes with another festival mission — to show the audience young auteur cinema. The lack of special effects does not interfere with any manifestation of creativity," the company emphasizes.
Hexagon worked with independent artist Vova Alyanov on the visual style of the 52nd Molodist.
The festival will be held with the support of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, the Goethe-Institut, the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, the Embassy of Italy in Ukraine, the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine, and the US Embassy in Ukraine.